detailed description of North Macedonia

1. EDUCATION SYSTEM
NORTH MACEDONIA

2. Key features
of the
Education
System in
North
Macedonia
 The educational system in the Republic of North Macedonia reflects the
needs of the society for educational, scientific and permanent role of the
education and science for the economic, social, technological and
cultural development of the society as a whole.
 The Macedonian educational system is decentralized. The management
of the primary and secondary schools is under responsibility of the
municipalities, except for the secondary schools in the capital Skopje
which are under responsibility of City of Skopje. The State provides
financial resources for the education in the municipalities in a form of
Block Grants. Those municipalities that are still in the first phase of the
decentralization, receive block grants for financing the maintenance of
the infrastructure, whereas the salaries of the employees in the schools
are still centrally distributed. The municipalities that are in the second
phase of decentralization receive block grants for both, infrastructure
and salaries of the school employees. The councils of the municipalities
are fully responsible for the internal distribution of the financial resources
from the block grants among the schools that fall under their
responsibility. The management of all schools for pupils with special
needs is under direct responsibility of the Ministry of Education and
Science.

3. Key features
of our
education
 The educational system in Macedonia provides schooling for about
275,000 pupils (about 13.5% of total population), out of which
192,000 in primary education and 83,000 in secondary education.
The teaching in Macedonian schools is conveyed in four
languages. Apart of the Macedonian language as official language
in the country, the pupils have option to select studying in Albanian,
Turkish or Serbian. In some schools the students also have the
option to select non-compulsory (elective) subjects for learning
about the culture and language of Aromanians or Roma people.
 The curricula for the subjects in the primary and general secondary
education and for the general subjects in the vocational education
are prepared by the Bureau for Development of Education and for
the vocational subjects by the Centre for Vocational Education and
Training. The quality assurance in the educational institutions is
under supervision of the State Educational Inspectorate.

4. Adult
education
 There are 21 higher education institutions in the country,
out of which seven are public universities. In the recent
years the number of students (regular and part-time)
studying at Macedonian universities is steadily increasing
and in the academic 2014/2015 there were roughly 60000
students, out of which only 12% were studying at the
private universities
 Special priority of the Republic of Macedonia is the adult
education, an activity which is regulated with the Law on
Adult Education and Law for Vocational Education. The
system of adult education is promoted by the Centre for
Adult Education, an institution established by the
government in order to contribute through the adult
education to the achievement of socio-economic needs of
Macedonia, to meet the needs of the labor market and to
assist individuals in their personal development.

5. Cambridge
curriculum
 Latest development in the primary education is
the introduction of Cambridge Curriculum. The
reform has started in 2014/5, and covers the
science and mathematics curriculum in the all
nine grades of the primary education. The
objective of the reforms is to modernize the
current traditional teaching and learning
methods, as well as the instructional
methodology, and introduce more interactive
approach in the educational process. This
reform is joint project with the Cambridge
International examination.

6. Stages of the Education System
 Education is compulsory between the ages of six to 19 for general secondary education,
or from six to 17, 18 or 19 for vocational education and training depending on the selected
VET track.
 The educational system in the Republic of Macedonia consists of three sub-systems:
 Primary education (ISCED 1 and ISCED 2): in duration of nine years, free of charge and
compulsory for all children aged 6 to 15, with no regards to the gender, religion and
nationality. The primary education activities are defined and regulated by the Law on the
Primary Education and with the Concept for Nine-years Primary Education. The mission
of this sub-system is to raise, educate and guide. In the first three grades the assessment
of the pupils is descriptive, and for the rest of the grades is numeric (marks 1 to 5). Private
primary education schools are not recognized in Macedonian education system. However,
private primary schools exist and their pupils are mainly of foreign citizenship.

7. Stages of the education system
 Secondary education (ISCED 3): general secondary education (Gymnasium) in duration
of four years and vocational education (Vocational Schools) in duration of two (vocational
education of two years), three (vocational education for professions) or four years
(vocational technical education). The secondary education is compulsory and comprises
all children in the age from 15 to 19 years for the general secondary education, and for
the age cohort 15 to 17, 18 or 19 in the VET depending on the selected track. The
activities and responsibilities of the secondary education are defined and regulated with
the Law on the Secondary Education and the Law for Vocational Education and Training.
The secondary education is free of charge in the public secondary schools. The pupils
also have the legal option to enroll into the private secondary schools which are officially
recognized by the Macedonian educational system; there are 16 private secondary
schools in the country. In several schools in the country there are bilingual classes in
which the teaching of non-language subjects is performed in foreign language (French or
English);

8. Higher education
 Higher education (ISCED 5, 6 and 7): implements under-graduate, master
and doctoral studies in the higher educational institutions and institutes
which are autonomous and independent. There are seven state
universities and 14 private universities in the Republic of Macedonia. The
activities are defined and regulated by the Law on the Higher Education. In
accordance to the national policy for provision of equal access to the
higher education, social cohesion and lifelong learning, the state
introduced the Project 35/45, which promotes enrollment of the students
from the age cohort 35 to 45 years.

9. Schools for
children with
special needs
 the educational system comprises also the
children with special needs and who are
enrolled in the schools for special education or
within the regular teaching process depending
on the preferences of the students and their
parents. There is separate curriculum for these
schools.


10. Primary school 6-14 of age
Secondary school 14-18
University 18+